Jenny Owen is the President of ADASS. She has 33 years experience of working on social care, and is currently the Executive Director of Adults, Health & Community Wellbeing at Essex County Council, with responsibility for Adult Social Care, Adult Community Learning and Libraries. She has worked in Essex since 2004. Jenny has a long standing interest in services for older people, and was the co-chair of ADASS’s Older People’s policy group before becoming Vice-President. With Professor Sube Bannerjee she co-chaired the National Dementia Strategy up to its launch in 2008. Jenny is also a Trustee of the Social Care Institute of Excellence and a member of the Partnership Board of Research In Practice For Adults. Before Joining Essex Jenny was the Regional Director of the Eastern region of the Social Services Inspectorate at the Department of Health and subsequently the Commission for Social Care Inspection. She qualified as a social worker in 1976 and has worked as a social worker and manager in Sheffield, Islington, Hertfordshire and Essex.